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Ancestors to the Missoula Floods Portland State University PDXScholar Dissertations and Theses Dissertations and Theses Summer 1-5-2012 Ancient Cataclysmic Floods in the Pacific Northwest: Ancestors to the Missoula Floods Erica Medley Portland State University Follow this and additional works at: https://pdxscholar.library.pdx.edu/open_access_etds Part of the Geology Commons, Paleontology Commons, and the Soil Science Commons Let us know how access to this document benefits ou.y Recommended Citation Medley, Erica, "Ancient Cataclysmic Floods in the Pacific Northwest: Ancestors to the Missoula Floods" (2012). Dissertations and Theses. Paper 581. https://doi.org/10.15760/etd.581 This Thesis is brought to you for free and open access. It has been accepted for inclusion in Dissertations and Theses by an authorized administrator of PDXScholar. Please contact us if we can make this document more accessible: [email protected]. Ancient Cataclysmic Floods in the Pacific Northwest: Ancestors to the Missoula Floods by Erica Medley A thesis submitted in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Geology Thesis Committee: Scott F. Burns, Chair Christina Hulbe Jim O’Connor Portland State University ©2012 Abstract Ancient Cataclysmic Floods were the Ice Age Floods that left erosional and depositional features and preceded the Missoula Floods (15-18,000 ka) in the Pacific Northwest of the United States (Allen et al., 2009). All previously studied ancient sites were visited (14) and new sites (11) were found; four Missoula Flood quarries were also visited; a total of 29 sites were studied in this thesis. The use of calcrete paleosols to provide relative age dates for flood deposits was analyzed in this thesis. Missoula Flood gravel pits were sampled in order to examine the degree of calcrete development in flood deposits of known ages. All of the Missoula Flood deposits tested contain Stage 1 calcrete soil development. Calcrete paleosols at sites with evidence for older floods were all analyzed. Eight sites have paleosols with Stage II development (3-12% CaCO3): Rulo Outcrop, Potholes Coulee, Leslie Road, Benge, E. Callaway Road, Collier Coulee, Palouse, and Connell. Five sites have paleosols with Stage II+ development (12-17% CaCO3): Brown Road, Leslie Road, Benge, Reese Coulee, and Connell. Fourteen sites have paleosols with Stage III development (17-35% CaCO3): The Dalles, Rulo Outcrop, Winans Road 1, Poplar Heights, Yakima Bluffs, Canal Outcrop, Othello Canal, Reese Coulee, Potholes Coulee, E. Callaway Road, Frenchmen Coulee, Macall, Ritzville, and East Connell. One site has a paleosol with Stage III+ development (35-50% CaCO3): Othello Canal. Ancient Cataclysmic flooding initiated in the Early Pleistocene, at least 1.5 Myr. Sixteen field sites show evidence for Early Pleistocene flooding, preserved in all i six provinces: Othello Channels, Columbia River Gorge, Cheney-Palouse Scabland, Quincy Basin, Pasco Basin, and the Walla Walla Valley. There are 26 field sites with evidence for Middle Pleistocene flooding, present all regions except Othello Channels. Eleven of those 26 sites also show evidence for Early Pleistocene floods. Evidence for ancient flooding is present over dis. Evidence for Early and Middle Pleistocene floods is present over a wide distribution of elevations from 117 to 524 meters. ii Acknowledgements I would like to thank everyone who supported me and helped me through this process in some way. I could not have finished without the help and encouragement from others. Thanks to: My Mom and Dad, for supporting me not just through my thesis work but through everything leading up to that throughout my life; My sister, for motivating me with the things she has accomplished; My advisor, Scott Burns, for his inspiring enthusiasm and guidance; My committee members, Christina Hulbe and Jim O’Connor, whose input was extremely helpful; Giants that came before me, whose work was absolutely essential to this thesis: J.H. Bretz, V.R. Baker, D. Nummedal, B.N. Bjornstad, A.J. Busacca, K.R. Fecht, E.P. Kiver, M. Jaffee, P. Spencer, E.V. McDonald, R.B. Waitt, J. O’Connor; My field assistant and friend Kathryn Barnard, for driving all over eastern Washington with me and helping me find new field sites; My roommates and best friends Sarah Doliber, Skinny, and Chester, for providing lots of emotional support; Fellow graduate students at Portland State University, who took classes and progressed through the program with me; University Studies Program, for forcing me to become a public speaker and providing me with a job during this process; and the Avery Gravel Pit, for letting us access their property. iii Table of Contents Abstract ......................................................................................................................................... i Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................ iii List of Tables ............................................................................................................................. vi List of Figures .......................................................................................................................... vii Chapter 1: Introduction ........................................................................................................ 1 1.1 Missoula Floods ............................................................................................................................ 2 1.2 Ancient Cataclysmic Floods ..................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Aims and Objectives ................................................................................................................... 4 Chapter 2: Background ......................................................................................................... 7 2.1 Cenozoic Geologic History of the Study Area ..................................................................... 7 2.2 Pleistocene Ice Age History ..................................................................................................... 7 2.3 Missoula Floods-Most Famous of the Ice Age Floods ...................................................... 9 2.4 Ancient Cataclysmic Floods .................................................................................................. 10 2.5 Soil Development ..................................................................................................................... 15 2.6 Unconformities.......................................................................................................................... 17 2.7 Exotic Clasts ................................................................................................................................ 17 2.8 Truncated Clastic Dikes ......................................................................................................... 18 2.9 Reversed Magnetic Polarity .................................................................................................. 18 Chapter 3: Methods ............................................................................................................... 19 3.1 Literature Review..................................................................................................................... 19 3.2 Field Data Collection ............................................................................................................... 19 3.3 Laboratory Methods ................................................................................................................ 20 Chapter 4: Results ................................................................................................................. 23 4.1 Missoula Flood Gravel Pits .................................................................................................... 26 4.1.1 Avery Gravel Pit (Wishram, Washington) .............................................................................. 26 4.1.2 St. Petersburg Bar (The Dalles, Oregon) ................................................................................. 29 4.1.3 Fairbanks Farm (The Dalles, Oregon)...................................................................................... 31 4.1.4 Arlington (Arlington, Oregon) .................................................................................................... 33 4.2 Loess Sites ................................................................................................................................... 35 4.2.1 Washtucna (Washtucna, Washington) .................................................................................... 35 4.2.2 Benge (Benge, Washington) ........................................................................................................ 38 4.2.3 E. Callaway Road (Benge, Washington) .................................................................................. 41 4.2.4 Rulo Outcrop (Walla Walla, Washington) .............................................................................. 44 4.3 Flood deposits ........................................................................................................................... 47 4.3.1 Poplar Heights (Highland, Washington) ................................................................................. 47 4.3.2 Old Maid Coulee (Mesa, Washington) ...................................................................................... 50 4.3.3
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